Culturing cells in vitro, especially in large bioreactors, has been the basis of the production of numerous biotechnology products, and involves the elaboration by these cells of protein products into the support medium, from which these products are isolated and further processed prior to use clinically. The quantity of protein production over time from the cells growing in culture depends on a number of factors, such as, for example, cell density, cell cycle phase, cellular biosynthesis rates of the proteins, condition of the medium used to support cell viability and growth, and the longevity of the cells in culture (i.e., how long before they succumb to programmed cell death, or apoptosis). Various methods of improving the viability and lifespan of the cells in culture have been developed, together with methods of increasing productivity of a desired protein by, for example, controlling nutrients, cell density, oxygen and carbon dioxide content, lactate dehydrogenase, pH, osmolarity, catabolites, etc. For example, increasing cell density can make the process more productive, but can also reduce the lifespan of the cells in culture. Therefore, it may be desirous to reduce the rate of proliferation of such cells in culture when the maximal density is achieved, so as to maintain the cell population in its most productive state as long as possible. This results in increasing or extending the bioreactor cycle at its production peak, elaborating the desired protein products for a longer period, and this results in a higher yield from the bioreactor cycle.
Many different approaches have been pursued to increase the bioreactor cycle time, such as adjusting the medium supporting cell proliferation, addition of certain growth-promoting factors, as well as inhibiting cell proliferation without affecting protein synthesis. One particular approach aims to increase the lifespan of cultured cells via controlling the cell cycle by use of genes or antisense oligonucleotides to affect cell cycle targets, whereby a cell is induced into a pseudo-senescence stage by transfecting, transforming, or infecting with a vector that prevents cell cycle progression and induces a so-called pseudo-senescent state that blocks further cell division and expands the protein synthesis capacity of the cells in culture; in other words, the pseudo-senescent state can be induced by transfecting the cells with a vector expressing a cell cycle inhibitor (Bucciarelli et al., U.S. Patent Appl. 2002/0160450 A1; WO 02/16590 A2). The latter method, by inhibiting cell duplication, seeks to force cells into a state that may have prolonged cell culture lifetimes, as described by Goldstein and Singal (Exp Cell Res 88, 359-64, 1974; Brenner et al., Oncogene 17:199-205, 1998), and may be resistant to apoptosis (Chang et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97, 4291-6, 2000; Javeland et al., Oncogene 19, 61-8, 2000).
Still another approach involves establishing primary, diploid human cells or their derivatives with unlimited proliferation following transfection with the adenovirus E1 genes. The new cell lines, one of which is PER.C6 (ECACC deposit number 96022940), which expresses functional Ad5 E1A and E1B gene products, can produce recombinant adenoviruses, as well as other viruses (e.g., influenza, herpes simplex, rotavirus, measles) designed for gene therapy and vaccines, as well as for the production of recombinant therapeutic proteins, such as human growth factors and human antibodies (Vogels et al., WO 02/40665 A2).
Other approaches have focused on the use of caspase inhibitors for preventing or delaying apoptosis in cells. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,206. Still other approaches have tried to use apoptosis inhibitors such as members of the Bcl-2 family for preventing or delaying apoptosis in cells. See Arden et al., Bioprocessing Journal, 3:23-28 (2004). These approaches have yielded unpredictable results. For example, in one study, expression of Bcl-2 increased cell viability but did not increase protein production. (See Tey et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 68:31-43, 2000.) Another example disclosed overexpression of Bcl-2 proteins to delay apoptosis in CHO cells, but Bcl-xL increased protein production whereas Bcl-2 decreased protein production (see WO03/083093). A further example disclosed experiments using expression of Bcl-2 proteins to prolong the survival of Sp2/0-Agl4 (ATCC # CRL-1581, hereafter referred to as Sp2/0) cells in cultures. However, the cell density of the Bcl-2 expressing clones were 20 to 50% lower than that of their parental cultures, raising concerns for their practical application in biopharmaceutical industry (see WO03/040374; U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,199).
It is apparent, therefore, that improved host cells for high level expression of recombinant proteins and methods for reliably increasing recombinant protein production, in particular the production of antibodies and antibody fragments, multispecific antibodies, fragments and single-chain constructs, peptides, enzymes, growth factors, hormones, interleukins, interferons, and vaccines, in host cells are needed in the art. A need also exists for cell lines that are pre-adapted to grow in serum-free or serum-depleted medium, that can be transfected with expression vectors under serum free conditions and used for protein production without going through a lengthy adaptation period before serum-free growth and protein production.